Sporcle Live Team Spotlight: The Rural Jurors

Cody drinking during the #lentenbeerfast at 8 Degrees Plato in Detroit. He stopped there for a beer and a picture during all but three days of the fast.

The Rural Jurors

Cody, team captain of Sporcle Live trivia team The Rural Jurors, took on a particularly interesting challenge for Lent 2019: he consumed beer and only beer. That’s right, for over 40 days straight he declined food in favor of one of the oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic drinks in the world. It may sound crazy but, as he explains, fasting is a long-tenured religious tradition. We here at Sporcle were fascinated by this undertaking – and were particularly curious whether Cody and his team were better or worse at trivia while drinking only beer! It seems The Rural Jurors scores have not suffered – they’re in the running to be the PCTL Venue Champion at Downey Brewing Company. We corresponded with Cody to learn about more about his beer fast and the trivia team that supported him through it!

Can you share a little more about the #lentenbeerfast – what inspired it, how’s it going, what do your trivia teammates think?

A few years back I heard about 17th Century Bavarian Monks fasting during Lent. All they consumed was a Doppelbock beer that they brewed themselves. I thought it was an interesting concept. Craft beer is also my biggest hobby, and Detroit has a growing beer scene. I thought I would give it a try this year. I would consume about four beers a day during the week, and five per day on weekends. Other than that, I would only consume water, the occasional cup of black coffee, and take a multivitamin and iron tablet. It has been going well, surprisingly. I’ve been a little more fatigued than normal, but that is to be expected. Today is the 44th day, with only two more days to go. I’m going to have to ease back into food, but once that is done, I’m going straight for Detroit-style deep dish pizza, chicken shawarma, and a Coney dog. My teammates thought it was dumb at the beginning, of course. They are alright with it now though, particularly because we have been performing a lot better over the past few weeks in trivia!

Many of your #lentenbeerfast “meals” were consumed during bar trivia. What appeals to you about trivia?

Downey Brewing Company

It’s a fun way to spice up going to get a drink. We all like to learn, read, and keep up with the times, so trivia is a great test of that. We all like drinking beer as well, so it is a perfect match. Also, we have gotten to know our hosts, since we go every week, and that is pretty cool. We always looked forward to hearing Tim, who is the host at Jolly Pumpkin, explain the rules and make jokes. We always thought he would be a fantastic teacher (all of us are either teachers or in education).

Who else is on The Rural Jurors, and how did your team come to play trivia together?

Sean and I taught at the same high school in Detroit for two years and are great friends. The team is the two of us, his girlfriend, and my girlfriend. We occasionally have other friends play with us as well.

What inspired your team name?

30 Rock. The Rural Jurors is a fictional movie that Jenna plays in, written by John Grisham’s fictional brother Kevin. Urban Fervor is the sequel. 30 Rock is one of my favorite shows, along with another member of our team.

Anything else you’d like to share?

Well, I’m deciding what to do with my Instagram thurstypretzels (which is a reference to “these pretzels are making me thirsty” from Seinfeld) once the #lentenbeerfast is over, and I think I want to keep it going as a beer-centered account. I’m going to get together with some friends and we are going to drink a beer from all 100+ BJCP styles (official beer style guide). We will continue to play trivia and post beers at trivia as well. Follow me!

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